AUTHOR'S FOREWORD

Previously on 'Skins 24 – Valentine's Day': Cook drags a reluctant JJ down to the water park where JJ meets a girl called Mary whom he takes a liking to. Emily is desperate to find out who sent Naomi the other Valentine's card and the girls have an emotional discussion about it during a special lakeside picnic re-enactment. Effy opens up to Freddie about her fears that she will turn out like her mother. Katie asks JJ to meet her for lunch as she is desperate not to spend Valentine's Day on her own.

Time: 12.10.01

As Cook strode into his uncle's pub, hotly pursued by a gaggle of giggling girls, all seemingly jostling for position as first in line for his attentions, Freddie and Effy watched from a disrespectful distance back with resigned, world-weary expressions borne out of long experience of Cook's pulling powers. They had accepted Cook's invitation to join him and his newly acquired harem for a liquid lunch without any great enthusiasm. Both of them were thirsty and neither could be bothered to argue with Cook who appeared to be in one of his 'won't take no for an answer' moods.

'What the fuck happened to JJ?' asked Cook, turning a puzzled face towards Freddie as he stood at the bar getting the drinks in.

'Search me,' replied Freddie with an indifferent shrug of his shoulders. 'I'm not his keeper. I thought you were looking after him.'

'The last time I saw him,' said Effy with a mischievous glint in her eyes, 'he was walking around the park with some girl. He seemed to be managing without you okay, Cook.'

'You're joking. JJ was actually chatting up some girl? Who was she?' Cook's disbelief at Effy's revelation was written all over his face.

'No idea,' said Effy. 'Does it matter? He seemed to be enjoying himself so leave him alone for once. Let him breathe without you climbing all over him, Cook.'

'It's fine by me, babe,' grinned Cook, as he picked up a pint of lager and immediately proceeded to pour a good third of the contents of the glass down his neck. 'I've got my hands full with this lot in any case. Besides, if he needs any help with the instructions on the packet, he can always call me.'

Freddie and Effy exchanged meaningful glances whilst shaking their heads in silent amusement and Effy couldn't resist a sly dig at Cook before he moved off to join the gaggle of girls who were noisily and impatiently waving him over to join them.

'That's really thoughtful of you, Cook. Not many friends would be that considerate.'

Time: 12.18.36

JJ took a bite out of his tuna and spring onion baguette and looked across at Katie with a bemused expression as he chewed away ravenously. He had agreed, with considerable reluctance it has to be admitted, to meet up with Katie for lunch as she had begged him to and he was still waiting for a reason some ten minutes after joining her in the sandwich bar.

'So, what is all this about Katie? Why did you need to see me in particular?'

'I need to ask you a big favour, JJ. You're the only person who can help me, who'll understand where I'm coming from and I think I can trust you to ……well, be discreet.'

This rather vague yet intriguing initial response had at least succeeded in arousing JJ's curiosity. 'What sort of favour, exactly. Why haven't you asked Emily rather than me? She is your sister, after all. I'm sure she can help you better than I can, whatever it is.'

'No, JJ, she can't. I need a guy, not a girl. I'm not like Emily, not in any way. I need a guy to……well, be my……my Valentine for the day, if you like. I'm all on my own, you see and I want someone to take me to the Valentine's Day party tonight.'

JJ nearly choked on the strawberry milkshake that he had begun drinking as Katie was talking and for a few seconds he was spluttering and coughing so violently that Katie thought he must be having some kind of fit. Eventually he managed to get his breath back, after going pink in the face and trusted himself to speak without going into any more spasms.

'Why me? I mean….its not as if you actually…….well, fancy me or anything, do you?'

Katie had anticipated that JJ was going to have to be persuaded as to the sincerity of her request and had already worked out her probable line of attack.

'I've asked you because you're the only one who really understands what it's like to be alone, JJ. I mean everyone else we know is paired off, aren't they? Freddie's with Effy now, having well and truly dumped me ages ago. Panda's all loved up with Thomas and Emily and Naomi, well you can't even prise them apart with a crowbar.'

JJ stared at Katie, barely able to believe his ears and his eyes were boggling like he'd just heard the incredible news that the world was just about to come to an end, which in one sense it might as well have been, from his point in view. Two women falling over themselves to go on a date with him today after years of not having had so much as a sniff of a date! Girls were just like buses, then. Nothing for ages then two come along at once. He felt obliged to point out one rather obvious oversight she had made in her summarising of the currently available and eligible males of her acquaintance.

'Haven't you forgotten Cook? He's not spoken for. I'm sure he would love to keep you company for the day. He'd be a much better Valentine than me, Katie. In fact I'd say he would be perfect for the job.'

'JJ, you can't be serious. I think I'd rather sit at home on my own and slit my wrists than go out with Cook.'

'I really do think you'd be better off with him than me, Katie.'

'I don't believe it! Are you turning me down, JJ?'

Katie's face suddenly screwed up into the most appalling contortions and she looked like she was about to burst into floods of tears. He shoulders started shaking violently and she quickly turned her face away from JJ so he couldn't see the shattering distress that was etched all over her face. Hours of patient practice in front of the mirror over many years had enabled Katie to perfect the art of conjuring up a convincing display of tears at a moment's notice.

'Oh, no, Katie! Please don't cry. It isn't that I don't find you attractive. You're an extremely attractive girl, honestly. It's just that I've…….' JJ's voice tailed off as he struggled to find the right words to explain the dilemma he was in without upsetting Katie even more. 'Because I've just met this lovely, shy, gentle girl called Mary who's the complete opposite to you' didn't really feel appropriate or helpful at that precise moment.

'Just what?' Katie cried out in anguish, barely suppressing a sob, still with her face half turned away from JJ.

'Oh, nothing really…..' JJ's reply tailed off lamely as he realised he couldn't bring himself to be so cruel and heartless to Katie who clearly was badly in need of some sympathetic male attention from someone who wouldn't just take her for granted and callously love her and leave in the morning. 'Okay, Katie, I'll do it. I'd be very honoured to be your Valentine for the day and take you out tonight.'

Katie swung around immediately flashing a huge, grateful, well rehearsed smile, the tears of a few seconds ago having miraculously vanished into thin air. She leaned forward, took hold of JJ's hands and kissed him softly on the cheek, causing him instantly to blush and giggle nervously.

'Thank you, JJ. You are such a gentleman! I can't thank you enough. Now hurry up and finish your sandwich. '

'Oh! Why? What's happening now?' he asked anxiously, wondering what the hell she was going to spring on him next.

'Well, I think we should go back to your place. I want to see what you've got in your wardrobe. You do want to part if you're going to be taking me out tonight, don't you?'

Time: 12.45.53

Pandora looked at her watch and registered with dismay that it was high time she trudged back home to face the music with her mother. She had enjoyed an idyllic morning with Thomas down at the water park, during which time they exchanged Valentine's presents and thanked each other for their cards in time-honoured fashion but now it was approaching the moment when her mother would be expecting her back from her college detention. Pandora knew that if she bunked off even just for the afternoon with Thomas, never mind the rest of the day for the party at the club, the consequences didn't bear thinking about.

'I've got to go, Thommo. My Mum will kill me if I don't go back.' Her big, sad eyes looked up at Thomas with longing mixed in with utter frustration at how unfair life was. If her Mum knew how kind, gentle and totally unlike all the other guys in their group Thomas really was, then she surely couldn't have any reason to worry or complain about her going out with him. But her Mum had this blind spot about all boys on which she simply wouldn't be moved. What possible hope was there for the pair of them?

'Hang on, Panda. I've got an idea. It just might work. Tell me what you think of this.'

Over the next five minutes Thomas expounded in detail his grand plan for winning over Pandora's mother. Pandora listened with weary scepticism at first but this soon gave way to a feeling of cautious optimism. By the time Thomas had finished explaining his suggestion for winning over the Ice Queen, Pandora was dancing around with unrestrained joy, convinced that Thomas had come up with a plan that had a realistic chance of succeeding and allowing them both to go to the club together that evening.

'That is mega wicked, Thommo! Let's go home straight away and put it to her!' cried an ecstatic Pandora at the top of her voice, her childlike excitement revealing itself in its customary fashion.

'Okay, Panda, but you'll have to learn not to shout and scream like that if you don't want to irritate your Mum before we've even explained it to her.'

'Righto, Thommo. Of course I will. Calm, calm, calm.' Pandora went through her deep breathing exercises which her mother forced her to do every day and which now predictably had Thomas in stitches, as with every time he had ever watched Pandora practice them when they were together.

Time: 13.12.26

'I'm thinking of getting out of this place, Freddie.' Effy's unexpected statement, delivered with quiet simplicity and in a typically casual, offhand manner which totally belied the seriousness of its implications, stunned Freddie momentarily and rendered him speechless. He put down his pint slowly on to the table and looked at Effy intently, thinking at first she must be joking.

But there were no tell-tale signs of Effy's sense of humour. There seemed to be no slight curling up of the corners of her mouth to indicate she was just pulling his leg, no twinkle in her eyes to show she was merely trying to get his undivided attention. Consequently this simple statement of intent had all the impact of a bomb having gone off in Freddie's head.

Freddie laughed nervously and said, 'You're joking, right?'

Effy shook her head slowly and stared him straight in the eyes without betraying any discernible emotion.

'What do you mean, 'this place'? Home? You're thinking of leaving home?

'Maybe not just home.'

'Why? It can't be THAT bad living with your Mum?'

'How the fuck would you know? You've never tried it. It's hell, trust me. I don't think I can put up with it any longer.'

'Oh come on, Effy. I do know what it's like living in a one parent family, remember? It takes time to…..get over things, you know, move on. But it does get better…. eventually.'

He didn't know if the argument he had just put forward would carry a great deal of weight with the clear-thinking, composed brunette but he was desperate to get her to reconsider. His mouth had suddenly turned very dry and he picked up his glass again to take a much-needed slurp of lager to moisten his dry throat and give him a little extra thinking time.

'Yeah, but your Dad's fine. He isn't off his head like my Mum. He's not completely fucking impossible to live with, like she is.'

'He has his moments. We still don't exactly see eye to eye on most things. It's not all sweetness and light at home for me either.'

'I know but at least you don't have to listen to all that shit on your own. Karen's there as well to take her share Me, I'm all alone there with Mum and I get the whole fucking works thrown at me, day after day. It's driving me insane. I know if I stay there any longer, well…..I might do something I'll regret one day, you know?'

'Like what?' Freddie couldn't imagine what Effy might have been hinting at but her quiet conviction and calm demeanour was making him feel very worried. He would have been less concerned if Effy had been ranting and raving, losing control of her emotions. He could have dismissed that as merely the normal emotional outburst of a young girl who was going through a rough patch with her family. But Effy didn't do big, emotional, hormonal scenes. She was far too composed and controlled for that.

'Where the hell would you go?' he asked, wondering if she had really thought this vague notion through at all.

'I don't know. Anywhere, I guess. I suppose I could go and stay with my Dad.'

Freddie was surprised at this suggestion which he felt came right out of left field. 'I thought you used to get on with him worse than your Mum?'

'I did. But at least he didn't shag his boss's wife. He'd take me in, I know. It's an option. I haven't decided yet where I might go. I might fuck off out of Bristol completely.'

Freddie fell silent, mulling over the startling thought processes that Effy had come out with. This was not how he had envisaged their Valentine's Day turning out. He had hoped it would be a day that could draw them closer together, not threaten to push them miles apart.

Time: 13.30.49

Emily sighed with irritation once more as yet another attempt to speak to Katie had been frustrated. Clearly her sister was not in the mood for accepting any calls, unless of course she was only keen on not speaking to her twin. And if that was the case, why might that be? Could Naomi be right? Might it have been Katie's idea of a sick, twisted joke to send Naomi that Valentine's card? She threw her mobile down on to the blanket in annoyance. 'Damn Katie!' she thought.

'No joy?' asked Naomi, noticing Emily's reaction. 'Well, I can't say I'm surprised. I mean, she's not the sharpest tool in the box, is she? It's a bit obvious to try to avoid talking to you if she did send that card.'

'I'll just have to keep trying. She can't avoid me all day, can she?' Emily tried to put all suspicious thoughts of Katie out of her mind by helping Naomi clear up the remains of their lovers' picnic. There was still a small piece of chocolate cake left over and Emily divided it roughly in two, devoured her half in seconds and proceeded to force feed the other half to Naomi who pretended to resist but soon gave way, giggling and laughing, to Emily's persistent attentions. Emily offered a chocolate- smeared middle finger to the blonde who smiled broadly, took the proffered finger in her mouth and slowly, noisily and sexily sucked and licked the chocolate off a giggling and squealing Emily.

'You're a filthy girl, Em' said Naomi, 'forcing me to do disgusting things like that.'

'Who's forcing you? I've hardly had to twist your arm, have I, Miss Self-Righteous? Are you quite sure you don't want to start screaming 'rape'?'

Naomi's mouth flew open in mock outrage at Emily's sly dig and she pounced on the redhead and began tickling her mercilessly. Emily reacted instinctively by squealing and screaming, begging for forgiveness as Naomi exacted a terrible revenge for Emily's slur on her upright character and moral fibre.

After a few more moments of affectionate horseplay the two girls resumed their clearing up operation and soon they were ready to depart their favourite love nest.

'What next, chief?' Naomi looked at Emily for instructions as to the next item on their Valentine's Day agenda which Emily had told Naomi she was taking full responsibility for.

'Well, I thought we might pop round to see JJ. He told me he would probably be spending the day on his own at home as he doesn't have a girlfriend to be with. I thought we could cheer him up by calling on him and playing a few games.'

Naomi pulled a face at Emily and puffed out her cheeks as they mounted their bikes. 'Do you really think the two of us going round to see him is going to cheer him up?'

'Well, it's worth a try, Naomi. I can't bear the thought of him stuck at home all alone feeling miserable because he hasn't got a girl to spend Valentine's Day with.'

Time: 13.42.18

'So, let me see if I've got this right, um….Thomas,' said Mrs Moon, looking at the two expectant faces staring at her nervously from the other side of the living room. 'You're saying that you will volunteer to help Pandora catch up with her English coursework and improve her marks, starting here this afternoon. In return you're asking that I agree that you can take Pandora out two nights a week and that you guarantee that she will be back home by twelve o'clock and will not drink any alcohol while she is out with you. Is that it?'

'Yes, Mrs Moon,' said Thomas, that's correct. I totally understand your concerns about Pandora's studies and I 'm sorry if her marks have disappointed you recently. I really like Pandora and I want to be with her as much as possible but I appreciate her studies must come first.'

'Please, Mum,' pleaded a sad-looking Pandora. 'Thomas is super brilliant at English; he really understands what this Shakespeare guy's on about. I just don't get HIM at all but Thomas will explain it all to me and that everything will be hunky dory.' She beamed from ear to ear in a desperate attempt to convince her mother of the wisdom of this ingenious proposal that Thomas had come up with.

'Well, I must say, Thomas, it's extremely considerate and kind of you to take such an interest in Pandora's schoolwork but I have to say I'm very nervous about allowing you to …….. well, form a close friendship with her. She's a very innocent young girl who's had no exposure to the wicked things that so many boys are capable of.'

Thomas and Pandora exchanged silent glances during which both made a concerted effort to keep a straight face and not ruin the illusion that Mrs Moon was labouring under by sniggering or bursting out laughing.

'But Thomas isn't like Cook at all, Mum. He doesn't drink or take drugs or get into fights. If we start right now, Mum, you can sit in to see how completely ace Thomas is at speaking Shakespeare. Honestly, you'd almost think he was the teacher himself.'

'Who is this Cook, Pandora? He sounds a very, very bad, wicked boy indeed. I hope you haven't been mixing with him at all! I don't want you to go anywhere near him, do you hear me?!'

'Oh, no, Mum. I keep well away from him. I don't have anything more to do with him.'

Fortunately Mrs Moon missed the unintentional yet subtle nuance of Pandora's last ill-judged remark and seemed relieved and reassured by her daughter's protestations.

'Very well, Pandora. I will agree to let Thomas stay here this afternoon and help you with your English coursework. You can work here in the living room but I shall be coming in regularly to make sure you are working hard and listening carefully to what Thomas is teaching you.'

'Wicked!! Thanks, Mum! We'll be on it right now!'

Thomas gave a huge smile of relief and held out his hand to Mrs Moon in gratitude. 'Thank you so much, Mrs Moon. I promise I will do everything in my power to help Pandora be a first class English student.'

Mrs Moon was touched and impressed by Thomas's extremely polite manners and warmly, if a little formally, shook his hand to strike the deal. 'Maybe you could also help by getting Pandora to talk proper English, too. I don't understand half the expressions she comes out with,' said Mrs Moon, shaking her head in bewilderment.

Time: 13.55.37

Cook was standing at the bar knocking back his fourth pint of lager, surrounded by the same group of girls whom he had picked up earlier in the morning and whom he was now busy entertaining with his customary sparkling wit and repartee when he felt a hand tap him on the shoulder. He swung round to find himself face to face with a young girl, probably no more than sixteen, with long blond hair, a pretty face with a fair complexion and a mouth set firm in a look of defiance and determination.

'I was told I'd find you here. They weren't wrong,' said the girl who was staring at Cook and all the other girls who were equally staring back at her with obvious anger and contempt for daring to infiltrate their circle of worship without an invitation.

'Hello, babe,' smiled Cook in relaxed fashion. 'And who might you be? I'm afraid you'll have to get to the back of the queue. I've got my hands full at the moment, as you can see.'

'Oh, I don't need to join the queue, Cook. I'm already way ahead of that lot. You don't remember me, do you?'

Cook stared closely at the young girl, shook his head slowly, then his mouth opened as if something had been jogged in his private memory bank of fleeting assignations and passing acquaintances.

'Actually, you do look vaguely familiar, now I come to think of it. Where have I seen you before?'

'At my big sister's party, a couple of months back. The night when you got me completely plastered and shagged me out on the patio at the end of the evening when virtually everyone else had crashed out. Ring any bells now?'

Cook's harem of girls drew in a sharp, audible, collective breath and murmurings could be heard to break out amongst the shocked audience. Cook looked at her without any hint of embarrassment or resentment for her having brought up such an indelicate matter in front of his newly acquired fan club.

'Yeah, I do remember now. So what's brought you here, love? I didn't promise to marry you, the next morning, did I?' Cook laughed heartily at his own witticism and was immediately backed up by the harem who openly giggled and mocked the poor unfortunate who, in their eyes, was getting the kind of brush-off that a little upstart like her deserved.

'No, you didn't, that's true. But unless you come up with the money for an abortion, you might have to explain to my Dad why you're not going to marry the mother of your child.'

Cook's face appeared to be frozen in time, his mouth fell open so wide you could have driven a double-decker bus through it and a deathly hush fell upon everyone who was in earshot of this last dramatic remark.

'You what?' he said in a voice which came across as barely more than a croak.

'I'm pregnant, Cook,' said the young girl, forcing out a far from warm and genuine smile at him, 'and the bad news for you is that you're the father.'

AUTHOR'S MESSAGE

I would like to say a huge thanks to all those of you who posted a review after the last chapter. Your comments were much appreciated and in some cases very enlightening. I have definitely taken on board one or two things that were said about how you hoped things would turn out in the story. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I would love to hear from some more of you with your thoughts and opinions on what you think about this story!

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